Elements in Sociolinguistics – serie

This Element documents the evolution of a research program that began in the early 1960s with the author's first investigation of language change on Martha's Vineyard. It traces the development of what has become the basic framework for studying language variation and change. Interviews with strangers are the backbone of this research: the ten American English speakers appearing here were all strangers to the interviewer at the time. They were selected as among the most memorable, from thousands of interviews across six decades. The speakers express their ideas and concerns in the language of everyday life, dealing with their way of earning a living, getting along with neighbors, raising a family - all  matters in which their language serves them well. These people speak for themselves. And you will hear their voices. What they have to say is a monument to the richness and variety of the American vernacular, offering a tour of the studies that have built the field of sociolinguistics.

People from different places use different words for things, even everyday things such as carbonated beverages (e.g. soda, coke, pop) or bread roll-based sandwiches (e.g. hoagie, grinder, sub). Regional variation in vocabulary is one of the foci of dialectology, a subfield of linguistics that examines the geographic distribution of specific words, along with distributions of different pronunciations and grammatical constructions. This Element will provide readers with a basic understanding of traditional dialectological study and will demonstrate through examples (audio, text, maps) how Linguistic Atlas Project research has changed and expanded over time. Readers will be introduced to the key concepts of dialectology with a focus on the North American Linguistic Atlas Project (LAP) and its materials. This Element will also discuss today's LAP with reference to third-wave sociolinguistics, outlining the ways in which the LAP has changed over time to meet the needs and goals of contemporary sociolinguistic study.

Place has been central to sociolinguistic research from the beginning. How speakers conceptualize and orient to place can influence linguistic productions. Additionally, places can and do have myriad meanings - some strongly contested. Further, place is not static, as people move and the ideologies regarding certain places evolve over time. This Element probes these themes. It begins by reviewing the existing work on language and place within sociolinguistics according to key themes in the literature - place orientation, gentrification, globalization, and commodification, amongst others. Then it introduces key concepts and frameworks for studying place within allied fields such as geography, sociology, architecture, and psychology. Each author then presents a case study of language and place within their respective field sites: rural Appalachia and Greater New Orleans. The authors end by identifying areas for future development of place theory within sociolinguistics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

Place has been central to sociolinguistic research from the beginning. How speakers conceptualize and orient to place can influence linguistic productions. Additionally, places can and do have myriad meanings - some strongly contested. Further, place is not static, as people move and the ideologies regarding certain places evolve over time. This Element probes these themes. It begins by reviewing the existing work on language and place within sociolinguistics according to key themes in the literature - place orientation, gentrification, globalization, and commodification, amongst others. Then it introduces key concepts and frameworks for studying place within allied fields such as geography, sociology, architecture, and psychology. Each author then presents a case study of language and place within their respective field sites: rural Appalachia and Greater New Orleans. The authors end by identifying areas for future development of place theory within sociolinguistics. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.